i am having trouble finding out what all the wires are for that are connecting from the intake manifold and to the box to the front of the truck. I want to replace the intake and make it performance is there any pics you can show on how to do it or any suggestions please post back soon.

 

My best suggestion...keep the stock intake. It's not limiting power by any means. Drop in a filter (preferably a dry [non-oiled] brand) in the box if you'd like.

If you want an aftermarket intake, and your truck is a '94 as your username suggests, there should be two lines on the box. One goes into a "T" near the A/C and heater stuff on the firewall. I cut and capped this one. The other vacuum line should go to a valve that connects one of the exhaust manifolds to the intake to warm up the air when the engine is cold. This line can be cut and removed since you'll lose that whole thing when removing the intake.

 

Zack I beg to differ but I really don't want to get into argument over this, I am just gonna give the kid some info to reaserch and allow him to form his own opinion on this. K & N, Air Raid and a few other companies make intakes for rangers....do a little reaserch through google or even search through some old posts here and you can find what some others have done. Another source of info on this would be do a google search for the ranger station and generation edge each have tech sections with pics on some store bought and some home made intake mods - good luck! For the record I am of the opinion that just an intake give you very little, but a combination of intake, exhaust, and a programmer to tune your mods in are an effective way to see some real performace gains -

 

The best I can what your describibg, is the wires to the maf. Either way, get a quality intake and they will have instructions and all the hookups that you need.

 

Waves, you should know as well as anyone on here that I have an aftermarket intake. It's worth next to nothing in the power department. And you loose the true "cold" intake from the header panel and the apparently helpful heating on cold starts (never had a problem here in Texas...).

An intake alone is a total waste of money for nothing but sound.

 

I think I've stated my position on this and don't need to enter any more debate on this subject -

 

Ok, here is my experience with K&N filters, which are "Guaranteed to Increase Horsepower". I have found that when compared against OEM Paper air filters, and monitoring the engine with a MAP sensor while on a dyno, that the OEM Paper filter was no more restrictive than the K&N. The major bottleneck in the intake is the throttle body, not the air filter. If you installed a larger TB, you could get more power, but when power occurs is far more important than how much power. Ford engines are configured from the factory to produce usable amounts of power under normal driving conditions. In other words, they want to ensure that you can have descent "get up and go" without having to spool the engine to 3000 RPM first. Then there is fuel economy to consider.

K&N fuels their false perception of increased power by using these stupid little display units that compare it with a FRAM filter, which is probably about the most restrict paper filter on the market. Their complete intakes may offer some improvements, but the bulk of the illusion is the fact that their intakes will make the engine seem louder by removing the sound deadening features of the factor intake.

An aftermarket intake with a high flow filter may offer some benefits on an engine that has been modified for track use. This would require modification to the engine itself. Such a vehicle will either be illegal on the road, or almost un-drivable on the road. I regularly outrun these little souped up cars with my 4.0L Aerostar van, which is all factory.

 

I want to see a heads up race (legal at a track not on the street) between two identical Rangers, one with zero mods, the other with any of the aftermarket intake kits(not just the replacement filter), an after market more free flowing exhaust, and a bama programmer with all the mods programmed into one of Dougs tourque programs - speaking from experience in owning and modifying 5 rangers to difrent degrees I would put all of my money on the truck with the three mods I spoke of. As I and others with the same experience have stated time and again - just adding an after market intake makes little difrence, but the three mods I stated combined together do make a very noticeable difrence in performance.

 

Ok, lets put in this way, if you have a Ranger with a 4.0L engine all stock, versus another identical Ranger with a K&N intake system, the stock one will take off slightly faster, but the K&N modified one will have more top end. What is your point? It takes additional mods to get any significant improvements.

I outrun Rangers all the time with my van which at the moment is all stock. It is a 1994 Aerostar 4.0L AWD. I take off faster, and I get better fuel economy. And I am doing it with a factory exhaust, intake and an ordinary WIX paper air filter. Unloaded and with Overdrive disabled, I can 0-60 in 9.0 seconds.

I will state one of my earlier statements again. Its not about how much power your engine produces, its about when your engine produces it. The lower in the powerband the torque curve, the better, and the engines sweet spot is that area between the peak torque and the peak HP. If you make the intake and exhaust too large, the peak TQ moves to a higher RPM, because the engine has to get more air moving in those modified systems. The peak torque is equivalent to the peak volumetric efficiency. So what you really doing is increasing the systems flow under certain conditions, but the fact that the torque actually decreased i the lower powerband indicated the engine is actually drawing in less air under those same conditions. The intake and exhaust has to achieve a certain velocity before efficient exhaust scavenging begins to occur. Same with the intake, under the correct conditions, the velocity of the intake can improve the efficiency. As you increase the diameter of the intake, you reduce the velocity at any given engine speed. There is a point at which this velocity begins to loose its effectiveness. This is the peak HP output of the engine, and beyond this point, the exhaust and intakes may be considered restrictive.

Ponder this for a while, and actually visualize what is happening. I actually increased the usable power of my '90 Mazda 2600i by having a custom intake fabricated that was smaller than factory. It produces more power too my eliminating the sharp bends. But a smaller intake gained me enough power that this little 4 cylinder truck can pull a 1 ton load up a 5% grade and maintain 75 mph in overdrive.

 

Your van is not a ranger, not the same, not a fair comparison. I know and understand the point you are making, and I will state again - exact same two trucks, one with the exact mods I spoke of, one without - you know what truck will outrun the other and reach the finnish line first, the one with the mods. The proper combination of mods work - Douglas Stodarts torque programs on a Bama programmer with the other two mods I spoke of programmed in make a world of difrence.

I totaly agree with what you are saying about too much flow - that is not how it's done right, a good mild exhaust upgrade works, a more free flowing cat and mufler with slightly larger diameter pipe (notice the word slightly..like maybe an 1/8" or 1/4" more diameter) work great, but too large takes away all the bottom end. Again I am speaking from having done this 5 times now to difrent degrees, I am speaking from having made some mistakes along the way, and through those mistakes having learned alot about what really works and what does not. It takes a proper combination to gain some noticable performance gains - and that costs some cash to do, but it does work when done the right way with the right combination, it doesn't just produce top end, done the right way you see performace gains all the way through your acceleration from a dead stop to wide open through the top gear -

 

Yes. But the original poster doesn't care about the mods you have. He doesn't care about a chip or exhaust. He asked about an intake. That's it. No more.

No gains to be had there.

If you want to buy one mod, buy a chip. You're wasting money on an intake alone. End of story.

 

Now when did he say he did not care? I simply stated what would need to be added in conjunction with an air intake that is a proven combination. C'mon Zach we beat this dead horse time and again, all I was trying to explain is how it works as a combo, and most of us can only do mods one at a time.

Ok how about this the drag race I spoke of above with the exact two rangers, one stock, one with the mods I believe work, what Ranger do you think will win the race? Again I know which one I would be putting my money on, but that's because I know first hand what that combination does to a 3.0, of my 5 Rangers it's my 3rd 3.0 and for sure this Ranger is faster and produces more torque, all the way through the entire RPM range - it just pulls much more solid all the way through, much more than the other two that were modified to a lesser extent. But hey thats first hand knowledge talking, what do I know -

 

Enough said...that's his post, not mine. He wants "to replace the intake" not mod his truck until it will whip a 'stang. He would have said if he wanted more.

Still you bring up your "well let's drag race..." argument. When did anyone ever say that a Ranger, stock, will outrun a modded Ranger? Of course a Ranger with an intake, exhaust, and chip will outrun a stocker, all other things being equal. You know that as well as I and everyone else does. But who cares? He asked not about chips or exhausts. He asked about intakes. That's it. Nothing else. Nada. Zip. Zilch.

Stop pretending that his Ranger is going to be the fastest thing out there because he buys an intake. It will not. Will it help in the bigger picture of modifications to the engine if he has an intake? Yes. But it will do nothing alone other than make a sucking sound when he slams the go pedal. Nothing. 3 horsepower or less is hardly worth the $2-300 an intake can cost.

But hey, what do I know? I just have an intake.

 

RP I am not trying to argue with you, but it's not for you or me to decide if a minor HP gain is worth the money - that's up to the individual, we all live on difrent budgets, but it is nice to see you actually admiting there is a slight gain from an air intake alone as advertised by the manufaturer.

My point about the lets bring em to the strip argument - is simple, if you don't beleive there are gains in the mods, let the mods speak for themselves. Nice to see you are a believer.

Lastly I can only speak for myself and my reasons for modifying my ranger, and it was not to race on the strip or to be the fastest ranger in town. It was to regain some of what I lost through larger wheels, tires, and a lift kit - and those mods, with the new lower gears achieved all of that for me -

 

Replacing the intake can lead to bigger and better if you have the monies to dump into it. But really, I could care less about his finances. Wendells right. A Quality preformance replacement would contain all info needed. Go with a polished system, but don't worry about increasing size too much. I can personally tell you that that seems to work best. Unless your dont something like super/turbo charging it. then whatever.